Orbiting Astronauts Get Real Thanksgiving Feast in Space

Thermo-stabilized yams, cranberries and irradiated turkey will be a real feast in space

In space, this year's Thanksgiving turns from an American celebration into an international one.

NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, leader of the Expedition 34 mission gets to have a real Thanksgiving feast with his Russian crewmates, Oleg Novitsky and Evgeny Tarelking.

Irradiated smoked turkey, corn, baked beans, thermo-stabilized yams and cranberry-apple dessert are just some of the dishes which came a long way from Earth to make the astronauts' delight for Thanksgiving, Gizmodo reports.

“Thanksgiving is not a holiday that the Russians celebrate, but we have found that on orbit the crewmembers celebrate each others’ holidays,” declared Vickie Kloeris from the NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory at Johnson Space Center in Huston.

Astronauts are pleased with the arrangements made for the occasion.

“If you want to go all the way back to Mercury and Gemini, there were no holiday meals back then,” said Kloeris.

“All you had was cube foods and tube foods. We've definitely expanded greatly the amount of traditional items that we have made available for holiday times.”